Come the Light
by Rymsie
Summary: Once the jewel is complete, Kagome is stolen from her mate back to modern times. Six months later she can return, but this is the story of how she came to love the Lord of the Western Lands.
1. Author's Note Chapter Guide Review Res...

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Author's Note

Hello everyone. I know I am supposed to be working on **Nightmare** and **Friends and Lovers**, but I _had_ to get this started so it was out of my head and I could think clearly again for the other fics. Because I might have rushed the posting of chapter one just a _tiny_ bit, I think I confused some people. This is the guide to the fic, so if there's something about one of the chapters that you don't understand you can check here and see what I meant to portray. Also, for reviews, I'm going to try to keep up with everyone and respond here to everyone. Bare with me, I'm trying.

Oh, and one last thing to add, I am compiling a database of all the people that send me mail. It's supposed to help me stay organized and to remember whom I'm talking to about what. I seriously get mail from about 20 different people every day and even not counting the people that send multiple mails, that's still alot of correspondence daily. So, to get my point across, if you want in the database, just mail me. Even flamers are added, so be sure to leave a name at least so I can track your dislike for my fics.

Right, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this one. I know I am.

Cheers,

Rymsie

Chapter One: The way things are now…

So, here's the skinny on this chapter. It's the way the InuYasha world is right now for this fic. Some key facts to know…

It is 56 years after InuYasha was imprisoned by Kikyou's arrow. 50 years of his attachment to the God Tree and roughly another 6 of the quest for the Shikon-no-Tama. The anniversary marker is Kagome's birthday [since she came through the well on her 15th]. SesshouMaru and Kagome are a couple but they are not together. He is in the past and she is in her time. When the Shikon-no-Tama was completed, she was transported back to her time and the jewel reabsorbed into her. So she is now endowed with yet unknown miko powers as well as another surprise… InuYasha is accepting of the fact that his older brother took an opportunity presented to him and snatched up Kagome. They have been a couple for a while [like almost 5 years] so it's not news to InuYasha that SesshouMaru is searching for a way to bring his mate back to the past. Kikyou still walks the land. If she had been destroyed _before_ the jewel was complete, Kagome would not be trapped in the future. It is Kikyou that has inadvertently sealed the well. InuYasha and SesshouMaru know this at the beginning of the fic. If it wasn't obvious enough, this is a SesshouMaru and Kagome romance fic. If you are not a fan of this couple, well, it's a good thing I put this chapter guide before the fic, because now you know and can save yourself the time of reading it. I am not a tolerant person of flamers so don't bother. 

The chapter is divided into three parts: SesshouMaru, InuYasha and Kikyou, and Kagome. Each deals with introspective accounts from their respective main character. 

SesshouMaru

He is mad at Fate and Kikyou, not Kagome. By investing his love into Kagome, becoming her mate, and loving her only to have it all taken away by the jewel, he had developed a deep resentment for anything Shikon-no-Tama related. Because it has been close to 5 years that they have been a couple, he understands Kagome's sense of responsibility, but he has now been six months without his other half, and the poor guy is in pain. He is going to get Kikyou and release the rest of Kagome's soul. 

InuYasha and Kikyou

There is no love lost here; they flat out hate one another. He had mellowed, is more pacifist in this case because it's not really him fighting this battle. He recognizes SesshouMaru's right to free Kagome and is letting him have it. He had to beat Jaken three ways from Sunday to even get the time and location of this little meeting and is here for the show. Kikyou has lost her mind. She is undead and as such anything Ursula might have given her at her resurrection is beyond decayed and to a point of near uselessness. She knows what's going on and is not completely helpless to the situation, but that's for a later chapter. 

Kagome

She's pregnant. Now, I am going to work this differently. Because the jewel was reabsorbed into Kagome, she has strange new miko abilities, which we will see later. She is calling to the well at the end of the chapter, opening it herself, but I cannot tell you anything more than that. Regarding the pregnancy, I'm saying that the gestation period for youkai is longer than for humans. Now, if Kagome was having a regular hanyou, it would not be a noticeable term increase, but she's got the jewel in her and she was already carrying when the jewel reabsorbed into her body. Pretty much, instead of giving her the normal 40 weeks [roughly 9 months], she will carry for 60 weeks [roughly 13 to 14 months]. Now, that's over a year, okay. She will get back to SesshouMaru and still have half her pregnancy to go. They figure it all out then, but like I said about the miko powers, can't tell you any more than that. 

This chapter follows a classic, here's-what's-happening formula. Chapter Two will start as a flashback. I'll post that at the beginning so you all know, but what I am going to do is tell you all how we got to this point, otherwise it would be a really short fic. 

So, we will all get to see what brought SesshouMaru and Kagome together, how they managed their relationship with InuYasha and the gang, and exactly what I imagine happened at the final moment when Naraku was defeated and the jewel was made whole again. This fic follows the original story-line set out by Rumiko Takahashi in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM. Like all my other fics, I made this up out of the blue for your entertainment and mine; I am merely borrowing the characters and make no money on the side at all for this.

Now that you have your Chapter One guide enjoy the fic and let me know what you think. I hope I haven't given away too much but just enough to get you hooked for the more to come.

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Reviewers

01.06.2003

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Char - lol, I hear you about university… just glad my four years are done ;) I fixed and modified the chapter a little to get those nasty typos and grammar errors out, and added a little more scene description. I forget when I'm writing that I need to tell you what I see in my head or otherwise the setting remains this gray background with no definition and character. So I added pointers to each section to give it more depth. Thank you for the comment about no constructive criticism; it made my day!

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Bishonen no Hime -Trust me, there's lots more to come. After being a lurker and totally neglecting to my fics and site, I have no intention of slacking now.

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CX-Chan - Thank you, I'm so glad you're enjoying all the fics! Expect more and frequent updates.

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Ashleekyle - I wrote this chapter guide with your review in mind. After rereading the chapter I realized that you're right, I was confusing in parts about what I meant. So the above glob of text should clear some things up and open new confusions for future chapters to dissolve.

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Celyia - I read your parenthesis statement over and over and just love it. That's exactly the reaction I was going for and I'm glad you experienced it. Thank you so much for the kind words; coming from an author of your caliber it is an amazing compliment and I am deeply touch by it.

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Katzztar - Thank you, I am anxious to post that chapter too. Just to make you drool a little, it's actually already written, I just need to finish all the chapters that go in between ;)

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Sweety64 - It's like you know what's in my head before I get to post it. Yes, I will be explaining all I can think of for that relationship, but I can't give this fic to the InuYasha/Kagome fans. Sorry, it is SesshouMaru/Kagome all the way, but I do have others that are Inu/Kag, so check my site or other fics here. Thanks for the compliment and I hope you will continue to read the fic even though it's not the couple you like best.


	2. Chapter 1

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Come the Light

By Rymsie

InuYasha and all characters therein are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. The story plot and creativity of this fic are mine. All rights reserved.

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Along the third minor tributary to the southwest, below caves as ancient as time unfolding, yet above newly cleared peasant fields, the village had grown from nothing, into a thriving community. It had known the ups and downs of seasonal flux, experienced times of peace and ravaging war, and even survived attacks from more supernatural forces. Youkai forces, miko struggles, and enchantments. 

Such times were of the past though, washed like water thin blood to the river and beyond, and still, the village stood. Hearty and strong, fifty years past its last great hurtle, the hanyou InuYasha's revenge. Well, fifty-six to be exact, but why keep track of mortal years when one is ageless?

Because she was not, he reminded himself, looking down from the caves to InuYasha's Forrest below. She was mortal and followed the courses of time that brought life to this world and then, so unfairly, snatched it away. She'd been born centuries in the future, a time he could not comprehend, yet would use his eternal life to see. And his existence was an eternity, alone and angry, and oh so slow.

Anger that even now, a half-year after her loss, had yet to dissipate. It was because of the cause, that tiny seed that she'd planed in his heart and nurtured to full bloom, the now rotting garden of her love that he could not tend without her. From this he wrought eternal pain. How could she turn from him after all they had shared? Was his love not strong enough for her that she felt obligated to his worthless hanyou brother - a creature so below him and her that the cretin knew nothing but to hurt and destroy such a fragile and precious gift? 

That's how he'd found her five years ago. It had been not a month before her sixteenth birthday, the one-year anniversary of her coming to this age, and she'd been betrayed for the last time. Broken by InuYasha into a near empty shell. The hanyou had sapped her spirit and shattered her being, leaving his way open to interference; simple, clean, without restriction. 

And he's saved her that day, stopped her from giving over the rest of the soul within her to that walking corpse. In doing so he'd signed Fate's contract of destiny, following in his father's steps and tilling the emotional earth of his soul.

Yet he was here and she was not. The completed Shikon-no-Tama had stolen her away, back to her time. Even InuYasha had been unable to attain the stone, a point he loved to bring up now and then, just to rub salt in an open wound. Indeed, SesshouMaru took great pride that he'd been her lover and mate, and that even after all his brother had struggled for, InuYasha was not given what he sought. Neither Kagome nor the Shikon-no-Tama would ever belong to the hanyou again.

SesshouMaru could feel the presence, and knew it was time. Tonight he would bring home his lover, his mate, his Kagome. She would come to him by the light of dawn and tend the garden of his heart forever more.

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He came to the last spot she'd even stood at and waited. The dead priestess, his former lover, was never far off. She haunted these parts of the forest because she was bound here. It was not difficult to know why - Kagome's soul, that tiny piece that gave Kikyou life, sought it's home and mistress. 

Sounds of the forest that were easily taken for granted became blatantly absent at her approach. The trees themselves silenced in her wake, out of fear and hatred rather than respect. He could track her progress without sight or smell for the ground beneath her light step groaned in yearning for the soil and bone once lost to it. It was not a noise even dull human ears could miss.

"You should not have come, InuYasha." She spoke, the tone encouraging departure.

"He is close," was the careless reply. He lifted his shoulder in a shrug; "I will not interfere... merely want to see what happens."

"LIAR!" Kikyou gave the response without emotion, her voice dripping in malice and mistrust. "You came to see _her_, to see if he would bring her back." Her undead soul quivered in thought of the being that stalked her. It was enraging that her reincarnation would have both these men, one she sought to kill and punish for his betrayal and the other, most powerful and feared of all youkai in the Western Lands, the dark prince SesshouMaru.

She paused above the spot where Kagome had vanished six months ago to the night, seething. When she looked up InuYasha saw the anger in her eyes, bright and bled through with madness. How could he have turned his back on innocence and purity for this, he wondered. What had he seen in her, be it by magic or illusion, which had caused him to lose another, so important and irreplaceable? She was right though; he was here for Kagome. 

Though it galled him to admit it, he hoped SesshouMaru had finally unlocked the mystery, that killing the undead miko would release the seal on the well and allow Kagome to return. It had been too long since she'd stood upon the valiantly living patch of earth below Kikyou and disappeared from their lives. Months that felt like years, the time when they should have been together, even if SesshouMaru had her love as a mate. He'd still take being her friend.

The forest grew silent beyond the glade and InuYasha knew his brother had arrived. It had taken time and numerous beatings of Jaken to gather the location and event of this evening. He was not meant to know, not meant to be here, and it would be greatly amusing to see his brother's reaction.

The Western Lord arrived and no words were lost before the battle began.

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Kagome sighed and placed the last of the flowers at the base of the Goshinboku Tree. Tonight marked a half a year since she'd been brought back, since the Shikon-no-Tame had been made whole and purified. It had returned her to her time and absorbed into her body once more, yet still she felt incomplete.

Her soul was torn still, missing that one link to the past that kept her from being herself again. 

From within her abdomen a slight, though noticeable, jab to the ribs reminded her that Kikyou's piece of her soul was not the only connection. Rubbing her slightly swollen belly Kagome cooed to the unborn, soothing his concerns over her sadness.

"Yes, I know, Little One," she whispered, pleased when the overactive movement subsided to something more normal. "You are proof of my other half, my better half," she amended with a smile.

It had taken only a month after her return to the future to realize she was carrying his child, but what Kagome, her grandfather, and the Doctor couldn't understand was why her terms were longer than normal. She had a hunch it had to do with being impregnated by a youkai - not something you could confide to a modern medical professional without being sent to a loony farm - but her humanity should have countered that.

Granted, she had never _asked_ how long one carried a hanyou, but still... six months after the last time she'd been with SesshouMaru, add to that another three weeks [since she was positive she'd been pregnant for a while before that final night with him] and she was still only at a term equivalent to the mid to late second-trimester of a normal pregnancy. If this kept up she'd be pregnant through her next birthday, close to four months from now!

Just the thought made her back ache.

With a final swipe over her child, she stood once more and headed to the well shrine. It was time to check and make sure the well was still blocked. This was a ritual now, one preformed every two weeks [at first it was more like every day] to make sure there was no way for her to return.

She was still haunted in her dreams by his cry to her, the way his normally emotionless facade had slipped and pure panic was evident in every line of his face and body. It was a moment in her life, one of three that she would never forget and always be able to recall as though it had just happened.

The shrine was spotless, as per her daily sweeping of the steps and deck within. There seemed to be an in-flux of tourists over the last few months, many American and curious European types searching for the romance and adventure of ancient Japan. If they only knew, she thought after checking down the well and then returning to the top deck for the broom.

It was a calming motion, cleaning the shrine. She would always tell her child about his father, letting the love flow into him as it did through her. He would know his papa from her stories only, a point of sadness for her, but one quickly driven away with a tiny kick or nudge. If only one thing could be said about SesshouMaru's offspring, he would have his way!

Outside the shrine building noise from the city and surrounding neighborhood seemed to die away. Kagome didn't notice the silence until it literally entered the shrine itself. She stopped mid sweep with realization that the crickets had halted their nightly serenade and that even the soft tinkling of her mother's wind chimes was no more.

The air thickened as though an electric current was present, waiting for one simple spark to set it all alight. The eerie quality even set her son to rest and Kagome swore she felt the unborn child shiver within her, his sense of premonition far more acute than her own.

It was the well, she knew that without even thinking, but what could be causing this? What would bring such a force to her after so much time? Was it her mate calling her back? Could she now use the well?

The broomstick clattered to the deck as she raced to the well's rim. In it's normally dark depths a blue glow was beginning, spreading, and shining up to her. It was the glow she had known every time she'd traveled through this gate to the past. It was her opening to return.

Kagome turned to look back at her home, the top floor and roof just visible through the open shrine doors. "Mother, Souta, Grandpa... I love you," she said, in neither a whisper nor a shout for she just spoke it, knowing that the shrine would harbor her words so that her family would know them every time they came here.

With a final prayer sent to the gods for her second chance Kagome leapt over the well's rim and returned to her future.


End file.
